Metacloud which offers managed private and hybrid OpenStack clouds, has hired two big OpenStack names -- Scott Sanchez and Niki Acosta -- from Rackspace(s rax).

Sanchez will be VP of Strategy and Acosta will be director of evangelism for Pasadena, California-based Metacloud and the two will anchor its new Austin, Texas-based office.

Scott Sanchez and Niki Acosta

Scott Sanchez and Niki Acosta

Dozens of companies who back OpenStack pitch it as the basis for private and public cloud options although it is still seen as hard to implement and support. Metacloud's managed cloud model helps alleviate those deployment and maintenance concerns because it takes care of that heavy lifting.

In a statement, Sanchez said Metacloud's appeal is that it "just works, letting those customers focus on their applications and business and not on being experts in managing and scaling a private cloud."

While news of the hires is good for Metacloud -- both Sanchez and Acosta are well known in the OpenStack circuit -- it also casts a shadow on Rackspace, a company that helped incubate OpenStack before turning it over to a foundation. Rackspace has seen turnover at the top levels with Lanham Napier retiring as CEO a few months after Lew Moorman stepped down as president. Taylor Rhodes, who will speak at Structure on Thursday, was named president  in January.  Last month the company hired Morgan Stanley to evaluate its options.